Top IT News Stories of 2007

1.) The iPhone
2.) Halo 3
3.) Commercial Quad-Core Processors
4.) Jack Thompson
5.) Lady getting sued by the RIAA for $220,000
6.) Darpa Challenge
7.) New iPod's
8.) New Zune's

Theremin and Military Robot

The Theremin is a very cool device. I like how it seems like you don't really need to know how to play it in order to play it. Another cool thing about it is how it doesn't have any speakers. At least no visible speakers. The suite the military is designing and plan on using seems like it could possibly be one of the best things they have worked on to keep our soldiers safer. It's cool how it can make the soldier not tired when he/she is using the suite while lifting heavy objects. It would be cool for when they can offer these suites to the public and when they perfect them for military use.

The Age of Spiratual Machines

I think that what Ray Kurzweil said in his book about the upcoming years with machines and their intelligence is true. I believe that the day that there is no keyboard or mouse is very likely and possible. SOme of the things he talked about may not happen for a while though. Such as microscopic war-fare. But he did say that this would probably happen near the year 2029 so I guess it could be possible by then, give or take a few more years. But I do think that we will see huge advancedments in micro or nano warfare .

How Much Does Music Cost?

Music probably shouldn't be completely free because music artists do put a lot of time and effort into it. They also have to spend their money to get their music recorded and produced. That's why I think music shouldn't be completely free. But I do think that you can make music cheaper than what it is right now. Music could be free based on what the artist thinks but music is defiantly not worth .99 cents a song on iTunes. They should cut the prices at least in half, that way the companies could make more money because more people would be willing to pay that much money for a song or a CD.

Pole Shift

A pole shift is probably possible but it sounds kinda unlikely to happen anytime soon. From what I learned it sounds like it will not be happening for another few hundred years. But I still don't really understand this subject yet so I don't know if I'm right. If it happens when I'm still alive I'd be very surprised.

November 6th/7th

Network neutrality (equivalently "net neutrality", "Internet neutrality" or "NN") refers to a principle that is applied to residential broadband networks, and potentially to all networks. Precise definitions vary, but a broadband network free of restrictions on the kinds of equipment that may be attached and the modes of communication allowed, and where communication was not unreasonably degraded by other communication streams would be considered neutral by most advocates.

- Wikipedia

We should be concerned about Net Neutrality because companies, such as Comcast and AT&T, are planning on making it so that if the owners and operators of websites want to make their websites even faster, they have to pay the Internet Providers a huge sum of money. But the only way for consumers to get access to these faster versions of the websites is to pay a lot more money for these sites. By doing this, it breaks Net Neutrality and makes it so that not everyone is equal on the internet.

November 5th Blog

DARPA Urban Challenge winners

1st Place - Tartan Racing, Pittsburgh, PA

2nd Place - Stanford Racing Team, Stanford, CA

3rd Place - Victor Tango, Blacksburg, VA

The winning vehicle was a GM and some of the sponsors were technology base companies such as Google and Intel.

Glam vs. Geek?

This article was interesting on how they compared the two websites and how myspace.com was more of a Hollywood or Glam, as they call it, type of website compared to facebook.com being more silicon valley, or more Geek oriented.

Facebook-ing Philanthropy

I liked this article because it talked more about how Facebook has grown as a company and how the sites "Causes" application has helped out many foundations such as Support the Campaign for Breast Cancer Research

Blog for October 29th 2007

Nanobots get to the heart of the matter (CNN.COM)

(http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/02/08/ft.nanobots/index.html?iref=newssearch)

Microsoft invests $240 million in Facebook (CNN.COM)

(http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/10/26/facebook.microsoft.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch)

The Unabomber

Ted Kaczynski bombed people for nearly 18 years. He bombed, killed and maimed innocent people. He's against technology altogether. Ted had 25 victims in his bombings. He killed three of them and wounded the other 22 people with his mail bombings. David Gelerneter was one of the people target by Ted K. and ended up losing some of his fingers. I think David was tareted because he is a Computer Science proffesor at a University. Many people believe that Ted Kaczynski is a madman because he did all this bombing. To a degree he is, but he is a very smart man. He went to UofM to study Mathmatics and then got into Harvard to study Mathmatics even more. Many of the Unabombers targets had to do with people who had a lot to do with Technology and had at least a little influence in the technology field.

October 19, 2007

Social Networking: focuses on the building and verifying of online social networks for communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others, and which necessitates the use of software.

Infrastructures: generally structural elements that provide the framework supporting an entire structure. The term has diverse meanings in different fields, but is perhaps most widely understood to refer to roads, airports, and utilities.

Hardware: is a general term that refers to the physical artifacts of a technology.It may also mean the physical components of a computer system.

Software: is a general term used to describe a collection of computer programs, procedures and documentation that perform some task on a computer system.

Ethics: (via Latin ethica from the Ancient Greek ἠθική [φιλοσοφία] "moral philosophy", from the adjective of ἤθος ēthos "custom, habit"), a major branch of philosophy, is the study of values and customs of a person or group.

Intellectual Property: is an umbrella term for various legal entitlements which attach to certain names, written and recorded media, and inventions. The holders of these legal entitlements may exercise various exclusive rights in relation to the subject matter of the IP. The term intellectual property reflects the idea that this subject matter is the product of the mind or the intellect. The term implies that intellectual works are analogous to physical property and is consequently a matter of some controversy.


Stealing WiFi probably shouldn't be illegal but also should be illegal at the same time. It kinda depends on the situation. If your neighbor has WiFi, and its not secured, it should probably be their fault for not securing their network. Same thing applies for coffe shops like StarBucks. If they aren't smart enough to secure their network so that only paying customers can get it, it shouldn't be the the person's fault for "stealing" it. But if its a BIG company, like Ford or GM car plants, it would probably be easier for them to leave it open then to secure it because of the different levels of authority. So if you steal from large company buildings, like Ford or GM, it should be illegal.

"Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce.

Intellectual property is divided into two categories: Industrial property, which includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic indications of source; and Copyright, which includes literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs. Rights related to copyright include those of performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and those of broadcasters in their radio and television programs." (http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/)

Digital rights management (DRM) is an umbrella term that refers to access control technologies used by publishers and other copyright holders to limit usage of digital media or devices. It may also refer to restrictions associated with specific instances of digital works or devices. To some extent, DRM overlaps with copy protection, but DRM is usually applied to creative media (music, films, etc.) whereas copy protection typically refers to software. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management)

Jamie Thomas went to court on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 for stealing and sharing music illegally. She claims that she never shared her music for free using Kazaa and also claims she doesn't even have a Kazaa acount. The case ended late Thursday night with Thomas losing the case and owing the music compainies $220,000, more than she would of had to pay if she setteled it out of court.

Evaluation of Ready.gov

Ready.gov is a good website. It helps out in most cases. Most of it seems to be common sense of what you should do in case of an emergency. It also helps out by letting you know what to do in situations that you are not familiar with, such as terrorists attacks or what not. The website probably costs $500 or so a month to keep it updated in the latest information about the different emergencies. People who use this website are probably one's that need a little extra help to get certain supplies for different emergencies.

RFID technology enables the automated gathering and sending of asset information. RFIDs is being used for dogs and cats to track them so that if they get lost they can be returned to their owners.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Gordon Moore: Co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of Intel Corporation and the author of Moore's Law

Alan Turing: Often considered to be the father of modern computer science. He devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers, including the method of the bombe, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine. Creator of the Turing Test.

Steve Jobs: The co-founder and CEO of Apple and was the CEO of Pixar until its acquisition by Disney. He is currently the largest Disney shareholder^[7] and a member of Disney's Board of Directors. He is considered a leading figure in both the computer and entertainment industries.^[8]

Bill Gates:Is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist and chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft he has held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and he remains the largest individual shareholder with more than 8% of the common stock

Larry Page: Co-founded the Google internet search engine, now Google Inc., with Sergey Brin. Page is currently the President of Products at Google Inc. and has a net worth estimated at 18.5 billion dollars, making him the 5th richest person in the America together with Sergey Brin according to Forbes' annual list of billionaires on 2007

Tim Berners - Lee: A British developer who with the help of Robert Cailliau invented the World Wide Web. Sir Timothy Berners-Lee is the director of the World Wide Web Consortium (which oversees its continued development), and a senior researcher and holder of the 3Com Founders Chair at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).

Jeff Bezos: Is the founder, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board of Amazon.com. Bezos, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Princeton University, worked as a financial analyst for D. E. Shaw & Co. before founding Amazon in 1994. He was TIME magazine's Person of the Year in 1999.

Steve Ballmer: Has been the chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation since January 2000. Ballmer is the first person to become a billionaire (in U.S. dollars) based on stock options received as an employee of a corporation in which he was neither a founder nor a relative of a founder. In its 2007 World's Richest People ranking, Forbes Magazine ranked Ballmer as the 31st richest person in the world, with an estimated wealth of $15 billion.

Kenn Rose:

The Singularity is Near (Not to be confused with the book)

I think that the whole Singularity thing is cool and could happen. From what I understand, it seems like computers can become smarter than humans and the human race. They could also kill off humans if they think that it is necessary for them to do so if they ever become smart enough.

First Blog of Semester 1

Moore's Law is currently right about the speed of CPU's doubling every 18-24 months. Supposedly it has had a very long life because many of these types of "laws" don't normally last as long as this one.

Computers would be able to pass the Turing Test in the near future. Probably 2020 at the earliest. But computers, I think, will pass the test between the years 2020 and 2030.

I found it interesting how different the Microprocessors of today are so different from some of the first models and makes of them. It seems weird that they were set up so much differently then they are today and used such different parts back then compared to the parts we use today.